Out and proud policeman Xavier Jugelé was killed Thursday evening after responding to a terrorist attack on Paris’ most famous boulevard, Champs-Élysées.

Jugelé, 37, was in a police vehicle when a gunman opened fire on the street, killing Jugelé and wounding two other officers and a bystander. The gunman was shot dead after trying to flee and the attack was quickly claimed by ISIS.

“He was a simple man who loved his job, and he was really committed to the LGBT cause,” president of Flag, a French LGBT association for police officers, Mickaël Bucheron said. “He joined the association a few years ago, and he professed with us when there was the homosexual propaganda ban at the Sochi Olympic Games.”

Bucheron said he doesn’t have the words to describe finding out about the death of Jugelé.

“When I learned that it was one of us [who had been killed], it was shocking,” Bucheron said. “Every time a police officer dies in the line of duty, all of us are very moved and affected by the tragedy. But the emotion is even stronger when you knew him and he was a member of the association.”

Jugelé had been a police officer since 2010 and was one of the many that responded to the terrorist attack at the Bataclan concert hall in November 2015. He even attended the Sting concert that reopened the venue in 2016.

“I’m happy to be here,” he told People magazine at the time. “Glad the Bataclan is reopening. It’s symbolic. We’re here tonight as witness. Here to defend our civic values. the concert’s to celebrate life. To say no to terrorists.”

Jugelé’s partner is also a member of Flag, though not on the police force. The association has cancelled it’s annual Tea Dance because of the death.

“It didn’t seem humanly possible to go and dance on Sunday when one of our colleagues fell last night,” Bucheron said.